


Burn

by betraeyal



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Destructive magic, Female Reader, Gen, Loss of Control, Magic using human, Monsters are SUPER suspicious of you, Past timelines referenced, Reader Is Not Frisk, Reader falls shortly before frisk, STORY IN PROCESS OF BEING REWORKED BC I WANNA PUT MORE THOUGHT INTO THIS, Though if i'm honest they have a slight leaning towards non-binary, anyway, bleh somehow messed up the chapter order, but this will be reader's first rodeo, deminonbinary?, first three chapters serve as a prologue, so i fixed it! everything's cool now
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-05
Updated: 2016-01-14
Packaged: 2018-05-11 19:29:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5639272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/betraeyal/pseuds/betraeyal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Deep within the blue glow of the rock, you saw something shift.<br/>And then</p><p>you </p><p>fell<br/>--</p><p>To magicians, “burn” means that spectators are closely watching the movements and hands of a magician and won’t allow themselves to take their gaze away.<br/>To you, it means constant surveillance to ensure nobody gets hurt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 3

**Author's Note:**

> *POUNDS FISTS ON TABLE* FIRST FIC FIRST FIC FIRST FIC  
> (at least on AO3 and in this fandom)

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The first time it had happened, you’d been maybe six or seven years old. The day started off much like the days that preceded it, with the boy with the choppy bowl cut that lived just down the street (was his name Ryan? Richard? Something along those lines) showing up on your grandparents’ front porch like he did nearly every day, knocking and hollering that he’d managed to, yet again, find something amazing and that you just _had_ to see it. And you, having only just finished eating the lunch that your grandmother had prepared for you, had instantly leapt to your feet and rushed out the door with only a parting wave, pointedly ignoring some silly demand to brush your hair because _what??_ Who even brushes their hair when adventure awaits?

So you and Bowl Cut cut through your backyard to the open fields that lay beyond, racing through the tall, dead grass towards your secret place. It was really only a hollowed out tree that had died long ago but hadn’t been removed by the closest residents for whatever reason, but to you and your buddy, it may as well been the wardrobe that led to Narnia for all the wonder and amazement you two drew from it. Finding it had been a joyous occasion in your friendship, because while you two had been pretty chummy before, now you shared a _secret_ , and nothing binds people better than a secret.

After the both of you finished squeezing inside the small entry point and settled yourselves down on what was probably the remnants of a bird’s nest if the feathers were anything to go by, you reached out and gave your friend an expectant pat on the knee. The two of you were hidden now, so it was safe for him to show his newest treasure without fear of being discovered.

He beamed at you, and you watched as Bowl Cut reached into his pocket and pulled out his find of the day. The very sight of it took your breath away.

It was…

Was…

Well, frankly, you had no idea what that thing in his hand was beyond being a rock, but you were giddy and lightheaded nonetheless. Black and smooth with rounded edges, it was like the sort of stones you’d find in a river, with the addition of having some foreign symbols etched into its surface. It was strangely clean-cut, like it had been carved into with a laser, but all in all it just looked like some weird drawings on a rock. That glowed.

 _Glowed_.

And not like those white-ish-green plastic stars that you’d pasted onto the ceiling of your room, which could only be appreciated in the complete darkness that only night could bring. No, this was a pulsing, living sort of glow that persisted even when your friend held it out into the light.

Unable to help yourself, you reached out a hand and plucked the surprisingly cool-to-the-touch stone from your friend’s grasp. It practically vibrated in your palm the moment you held it, sending goosebumps throughout your whole body. As you turned it over and over, inspecting every nook and cranny of the carvings, something occurred that made you pause and bring it closer to your face.

Deep within the blue glow of the rock, you saw something _shift_.

And then

you

fell

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.

When you came to, dizzy and chilled to the bone despite the summer heat, Bowl Cut was gone and the tree that bound you together was splintered across the fields, blown apart by some unknown force.

No. No point in lying.

Blown apart by _you_.

You had destroyed both hideout and friendship in one fell swoop.

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.

And yet.

 _And yet_.

You kept the stone that started it all. Because this? This could only be magic.

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: chapter order suddenly got all messed up, so fixing it lmao


	2. 2

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The second time it happened, you were thirteen and sitting atop the pile of stones that decorated the corner of your mother’s backyard ( _aesthetic_ , your mother had said, while you could only see them as a pile of lumpy potato-like rocks). You weren’t doing much other than fiddling with what you’d taken to calling your ‘rune-rock’ and trying to ignore the pressure that had set up shop in your chest. The sensation of your mom’s ugly decorative stones digging into your ass helped, but only just so. Because if you were to be honest, focusing on one discomfort in an attempt to ignore the other wasn’t much of a solution, since you were still uncomfortable in the end. But you had discovered long ago that there wasn’t much else you could do other than sit down and ride it out.

You inhaled.

Exhaled.

And brought your stone to your forehead, trying to focus on the chill it provided to your overheated skin.

Something was different today, though you couldn’t explain why. Your chest hurt more than usual, bordering on a burning sensation rather than a simple pressure, and it felt like you’d split open if things kept progressing the way they were.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Focus.

Focus on the rune-rock. Focus on its pretty blue glow and the reflective properties of its onyx surface. Focus on how it feels in your hands. Focus on the comforting weight it provides.

Focus and ignore the claws of agony raking the inside of your chest, screaming to get out.

Don’t think about it.

Don’t think about it!

 _Don’t_ _think-_

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F

A

L

L

I

N

G

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Gone. It was all gone, leveled flat by you.

The rocks, the ugly brown picket fence, the small toolshed that was never used…

Your _home_.

Scattered and smoldering.

And _you_ did this.

.

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But you’d never felt so light before. So free. The pain in your chest had disappeared, and you felt _different_ somehow. Like some sort of key had been turned inside of you, and a previously unnoticed doorway was unlocked.

Yet.

You were _scared_.

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	3. 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bear with me, these short chapters are basically just the prologue split up in a way that flows better. backstory before we dive in, is all it is.

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The third time it happened, you were seventeen and possessed a better understanding of your magic, fickle as it was. You definitely wouldn’t say you had any control over when it chose to show itself (which was infrequently, and you could never figure out why), but through careful practice you were able to identify when powerful eruptions of magic were about to happen, thus preventing yourself from causing too much damage to your surrounding area. You couldn’t quite stop your magic from manifesting as, uh, explosions (disquieting didn’t even begin to cover how that made you feel), but you had to admit to yourself that being a human firecracker was kind of cool.

Well, no, that wasn’t true.

It actually left you pretty bitter. This power of yours was completely useless for anything other than a career as a one man firework show… But, y’know. Whatever.

Point being, you were confident that another accident wouldn’t occur.

Until one did.

It was difficult to even point out how things got out of hand so quickly. There wasn’t even a warning. The telltale buzzing in your chest was absent, and you had felt absolutely fine.

You’d been _fine_.

One second you were bumming around in the mall with friends, trying to figure out if you could all pool your money together to buy what was supposed to become a communal jacket, and the next—

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_You fell._

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You stood alone, jacket in hand, wondering how this had come to pass.

They were all gone. _Gone_.

_You’d been fine._

Yet. Yetyet _yet_ you hadn’t been fine. You’d lost control _again_ and now your friends were gone (oh god) and the store was gone (what have you done?) and there was fire and screaming and you just…

You just… you _couldn’t_ stay. You had to leave. Had to get away from the smoldering remains of your—no, don’t think about it.

 _Don’t_ think about it.

So you didn’t.

Though your hands were shaking and your mind was blank, you managed to shrug on the jacket you had planned to share with Ellen, with Maria, with—

You walked to your car and drove home.

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It was only when you noticed your rock sitting on your night stand that you realized what you’d _forgot to take with you_.

Soon after, you left the city with the rune-rock clutched to your chest, wanting to be anywhere but here because _god_ there were memories around every corner and you weren’t sure that you could even live with what you’d done and—

Never again. You couldn’t let this happen ever again.

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The third time you lost control, you made a promise to yourself to keep the rock on you at all times.

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ONWARDS


	4. Go!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Your adventure begins!!

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The strange thing about Mount Ebott, you decided, was how unassuming it seemed.

You knew the stories—how the once peaceful monsters had turned violent without warning, declaring war against humans with the intent to completely dominate and rule over them. The magic wielding monsters had nearly overpowered the humans, being that there was far too much diversity among them for your kind to develop a sound strategy against. Things seemed bleak. That is, until seven brave heroes stood strong and tall, willing to sacrifice their very souls to seal the beasts deep underneath the mountain. It was rumored that during quiet nights, one could still hear the howls of the monsters trapped below blah blah _blah_. So on and so forth.

This, coupled with the fact that Mount Ebott was the location of several missing children’s cases, had led you to believe that the mountain would look cold and dark, saturated with the feeling of unease. Heck, you’d even expected the very sky around it to be darkened by storms and lanced with lightening—basically, a looming, ominous titan that no sane soul would dare to approach.

But standing at the base of it, seeing how bright and green and alive it was, you couldn’t help but think that Mount Ebott looked more like it belonged in a fairytale.

Or something like that. Whatever.

Truth was, you’d been meaning to make the trip to this mountain ever since googling magic and its relation to humans made you realize that the script on your rune-rock had actually been written in… Monster-nese? Monsterian? You didn’t know what their written language was called, but all that really mattered was that you carried a hunk of monster-enchanted rock on you. Seeing as the war happened over a thousand or so years ago, there wasn’t exactly anything that allowed you to figure out what was written on your rune-rock, so you thought maybe you could try to find the equivalent of the Rosetta Stone here. You ignored the fact that this mountain had no doubt been combed over and over for anything monster-related over the years because… Well, because you were _special_ , and that had to mean you’d find something, right?

(You never did find out how Bowl Cut had come across your rock, though. He lived hundreds of miles away from Mount Ebott, so there really shouldn’t have been any artifacts just laying around waiting to be found by some kid with a bad haircut.)

It’d been years since you last lost control of your magic, and while focusing on your rock helped channel it into _slightly_ less destructive forms, you were aching to find a way to just… stop. The rock triggered the magic within you, so maybe another would seal it away?

That’s what you were hoping, anyway.

So here you stood, back straight despite the heavy weight of your mistakes, trying to work up the nerve to go up. There was nothing to be afraid of, and nothing other than the wildlife that could hurt you. You had a backpack of supplies in case you got so much as a scrape, and you were wearing your promise jacket to make you feel at ease. All you had to do was take a step forward and your adventure would begin.

So you did.

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Of course, nothing could ever be simple for you, could it?

You’d known that Ebott was big, what with being a _mountain_ and all, but it never really occurred to you that scouring every inch of the behemoth in hopes of finding anything would probably take, well, days. You were stupid and didn’t think this through, and now, many hours later, you found it too dark to even see much more than a few feet in front of you, much less look for anything that resembled your stone.

By the way, that was a lot of things. Turns out rocks were funny like that. They all pretty much resembled each other, being _rocks_ and all.

What the hell was wrong with you to even begin to think that looking for a rock on a mountain—which, being a big rock itself, was bound to be covered in them—was a good idea? Sure, _your_ magic rock glowed, but that didn’t mean all the other magic rocks would. You should’ve known better than to make any sort of assumption regarding ancient monster artifacts.

After tugging up the zipper of your jacket to ward off the night’s chill, you stood up from your resting spot—funnily enough, another rock!—and began to slowly make your way back down to Ebott’s base. You figured you could head back to your car and come up with a new game plan in the morning, since your current one wasn’t showing any fruit. All you needed was a good night’s rest, even if that rest was in the backseat of a tiny car that smelled of cheese fries and corndogs. Which, while delicious, wasn’t the best odor to be sitting in for hours at a time, much less sleeping.

It was while you were walking that you began to feel the heart-stopping sensation of your magic building up in your chest.

No. Nonono, you didn’t want to do this. You didn’t want to discharge on _Mount Ebott_ of all places! What if your magic triggered something awful hiding beneath the surface? What if you blew a hole beneath you and tumbled into the waiting jaws of the monsters below? What if you blew up the _whole mountain_ , releasing the beasts upon the world?

You scrambled for your rock, practically ripping it from your jacket’s pocket with cold and trembling fingers. You just needed to focus. Focus on creating pops and crackles instead of catastrophic booms and roars, focus on getting off this mountain and on level ground, focus on the rock and the calming effect it had on your magic.

Focus. All you needed to do was focus.

The pressure continued to build, and your steps quickened.

 _Focus_.

Ignore the burning in your chest and instead imagine your hands reaching inside yourself and tearing off pieces of magic. Ignore how you’re being ripped apart from the inside and picture the fragments slipping from your fingers to the surrounding air, floating up and away. Ignore—

You stumbled and the rock flew from your hands.

Time slowed to a crawl, and you could do nothing but watch with mute horror as it soared right into a previously unnoticed pit, watch as the comforting cyan glow faded out of existence, watch as the only thing that kept your volatile energy from atomizing those around you slipped away. Already you could feel the burn of uncontrolled magic spreading and engulfing your entire being, cooking you from the inside out and—

And you needed to get your rock _back_.

Ignoring the crescendo of crackling surrounding your body, ignoring the pain, you rocketed forward and threw yourself into the depths.

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It was only _after_ you jumped that you realized what you just did.

If your screams couldn’t be heard, the series of earth shaking explosions that followed your descent certainly would.

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ngl i'm posting these as soon as i finish writing them so if there are any glaring errors please let me know!


	5. Surprisingly Charming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You meet Toriel!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> every chapter is posted as soon as it's finished because i'm a lazy bum who can't be bothered to edit, so if you see any mistakes please let me know!

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_Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!_

You’d kill for a Life Alert right now.

Standing atop a bed of yellow flowers, you squint up at the ceiling you’d fallen from and try to figure out how you hadn’t died. Somehow, and you _really_ couldn’t figure this out, you’d survived your fall with nary a scratch on you. At some point during your descent into hell you’d blinked, and then… you were just here, surrounded by buttercups and huge chunks of debris. And boy, wasn’t it a stroke of luck that you’d managed to avoid being crushed by the aftermath of your own explosions? All around A+ job of escaping death, here’s a gold star.

Because it’s nearly pitch black, it takes you maybe five seconds to spot your stone glowing beneath some of the flowers and shove it in your pocket. Which… great. The tension between your shoulders loosen and you feel your racing heart begin to slow to a jog, but now what? You jumped down a hole chasing this thing, knowing you wouldn’t be able to live anything close to a normal life without it, but considering where you are… Well, maybe you’re being a pessimist, but it doesn’t look like you’re going to have much longer to live.

So you end up standing in the dark for a good thirty minutes, frozen by your indecision on what your next course of action should be. Do you stick around and hope that, come morning, someone would happen to find and rescue you? Or do you go further in and try to discover another way out? If nobody came, death by dehydration and starvation is guaranteed. If you explore you may find food and water… but then, you may also run into the monsters that lived down here.

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

“Hello?” A voice from behind cuts through your internal debate, and you feel yourself tense up. You don’t want to turn around. You _really_ don’t want to turn around.

You turn around.

“Holy shit.” Standing only a few feet away from you was what you could only describe as a goat… bear… woman _thing_. A bipedal goat-bear-woman who had a swarm of will-o-wisps circling her in lazy loops, bathing the cavern in a golden light. It was only now that you noticed the ivory pillars towering over you, as well as the path that this creature must have come from. Okay. Well, at least you now knew that you weren’t doomed to be trapped with only rocks and flowers to keep you company.

Nope, now you had _monsters_.

“Ah, do not be afraid!” She must have noticed you wincing at the very sight of her, oops. “I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins. I mean you no harm, my child.” She offers you a smile, exposing teeth that look just _perfect_ for tearing you apart. Oh, but she means no harm, that’s right. You… don’t really have any choice but to listen to her, if you were to be honest. Pissing her off would be a bad idea too, so…

“Uh…” You start off, because you’re great at conversations, “Erm, I mean, hello Toriel. What ah… what brings you to my crash site?”

“Well,” her red, red eyes drag from you to the flowerbed under your feet, and then to the pile of rubble crushing the yellow flowers around you. You’re no good at reading monster expressions, but something akin to grief flits across her face. Oh shit, were these Toriel’s flowers? Did you just crush her prized buttercups? “I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down. Not at this time of night, mind you, but I could not help but investigate after that dreadful series of explosions woke me up.”

Once again she looks at you, wearing a worried frown as she inspects you for injuries. At least, that’s what you hope she’s doing. For all you know she could be trying to gauge how you’d taste in a stew from looks alone. You don’t think you’d taste good, but that may just be wishful thinking on your part.

“If I am to be honest, I did not expect to find anyone here, least of all a human. But I am glad that I was the first to find you!” Boy, was that ominous or was that ominous?

“Come, I will guide you through the catacombs.” One large white paw held itself out to you, gesturing for you to come closer. Though you’d really prefer to stay where you are, you can’t bring yourself to disobey Toriel. Sure, she seems kind, but who knows how she’d react to insubordination.

When Toriel sees that you’re willing to follow her, she turns around and leads you to an enormous door flanked by columns on either side, with some strange symbol emblazoned across the top. Now that you think about it, it’s the very same image as the one on Toriel’s dress—a winged circle above three triangles. Did that… mean anything? Was it how Toriel marked her territory?

As you walk behind Toriel, you can’t help but notice how quiet everything is. There’s no rustling of leaves or hush of wind, no animals calling out or crickets rubbing their gross legs together. There’s nothing but the sound of your shoes against stone and _wow_ is that unsettling. You can’t help but want to fill the silence.

“Toriel?”

“Yes?” She looks at you from over her shoulder, her smile practically radiating benevolence.

“You, uh, said that you were glad you found me first. What would’ve happened if someone else found me?” Maybe not the best conversation topic, but you were having trouble coming up with something other than asking if Toriel was going to eat you.

“Oh! Well…” For a brief second she looks uncomfortable, and you half expect her to change the subject on you, but then she continues, “You must understand that as a human living in the Underground, monsters may attack you. They do not all wish you harm, mind you!” She hurried to explain, seeing how wide your eyes grew at the thought of being attacked, “It is simply that most of us do not know how to interact with humans, as they so rarely find their way to our world.”

“Huh…” You couldn’t ever recall a time where you met someone new and, not knowing how to break the ice, just _fucking_ _attacked them_. As you hopped up a set of stairs, you turned this new information over in your mind. Fights may become a regular thing during your stay in the Underground. So what did this mean for you? Were you going to have to brush up on your nonexistent brawling skills so you could survive a greeting from a monster?

As if reading your mind, Toriel quickly supplies a solution, “If you do happen to get drawn into a fight, all you have to do is strike up a pleasant conversation.” Oh, so it was diplomacy that you needed to brush up on, not fighting skills. “Once the monsters see that you do not intend to harm them, they should quickly grant you mercy.”

As the two of you make your way through the Ruins (which was apparently full of puzzles?), you can’t help but notice that despite being full of monsters… it’s a pretty charming place. The ivy creeping along the walls and the red leaves decorating the ground gives the Ruins a more natural feeling, making it almost homey. You could do without the spike-bridge and pitfalls, but with Toriel around they weren’t too much of a bother.

Strange as it sounds, you find yourself starting to like the Underground.

Eventually you make it to Toriel’s home, and she ushers you into what could only be a child’s room. Too tired to question her motives any longer, you relent and allow yourself to relax. You’ve had a long, strange day, and if this lady wants to give you shelter in your time of need then who are you to argue?

It’s… kind of nice having someone to talk to who seems to genuinely care about your wellbeing, monster or not. Make no mistake, you’re still a good deal wary about this whole situation, but…

You can’t remember the last time you’d even had a conversation that lasted longer than a few sentences.

Kicking off your boots, you crawl under the covers of the small bed. You suppose it wouldn’t hurt to stay with Toriel for a little while. There’s no rush, seeing as there’s no one waiting for you topside. Just a few days, then you could move on and try to find your way out.

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A month later and you’re still living with Toriel.

During your stay, you’ve discovered that monsters aren’t actually all that, well, _monstrous_. They’re nice, compassionate souls who are only ever friendly to you. The very thought of being scared of these guys seems so ridiculous to you now—even when they’d first attacked you, it was obvious that their hearts weren’t in the fight. You’d made friends for the first time in _years_.

And, _and_ you hadn’t had a single magical flare up since you fell. You aren’t sure if it’s because of where you are or if your explosive fall to the Underground had completely drained you, but you can’t bring yourself to care.

You’re happy.

Completely and utterly happy.

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But then Toriel comes home one day with a human child in tow, and everything changes.

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *thumbs up*

**Author's Note:**

> Don't even look at me omg  
> No but I really like the idea of humans with magic!!! But even more than that, I like the thought that humans can only access magic if they're in contact with monster magic in some shape or form. And on top of that, I'm a big sucker for destructive magic that won't do the reader any good if they want to pass through the Underground peacefully.  
> (also i'm making this up as i go along so bear with me please)


End file.
